Stránky

úterý, září 04, 2012

... or else ...thinking about nothing and everything when I don't have anything "useful" to do or from whichever reasons nothing "useful" is at hand.

Throughout the years I came to the conclusion that having regularly time for such thinking can help your brain to sort out its content and reassess the priorities for the next couple of month/years and the lack of it can be harmful.

Growing up in the communist Czechoslovakia I was lead to believe that one only needs to work, be obedient and polite to be praised. Every deviation from the "normal" set by the communist leaders was officially frown upon. A short relaxed atmosphere of the sixties ended by the Soviet occupation in August 1968 and was followed by another 20 years of "sleeping". We didn't live in fear or material need, but traveling to the West was very much restricted by the need to gain currency permit so we could not easily go and see for ourselves whether the capitalism is really so bad as described in our newspapers.

You are right. If you take the life as a musical,it is much more bearable.

Fortunately few of Czech cartoonists, humorists and folk singers helped me see the life in brighter colors - Vladimír Renčín is one of them.

Coming back - now to the democratic Czech republic - after 20 years living abroad (about 4 years in Germany, then 16 years in England) I became nostalgic for a few things I've known here in the past (maybe because I'm those 20 years older ;)).Specifically it concerns the shops.Some call it progress or rising living standards when you have shops open 24 hours a day so you can shop for anything even during the night (providing you have someone willing to do it). There is not only bread all day long, but the selection of 5-?. Shops back in the communist Czechoslovakia were not so full, when you wanted bread half an hour before closure time there was usually none and citrus fruits came only at Christmas. No, I'm not longing for that time to return - the freedom to make my own choice is still high on my list of values - just think that some "progress" is questionable.

I think people are sometimes unreasonable and try to use "everything" what the world has to offer exaggerating their own limits (I was - trying to live in my forties like in my late twenties when we got the chance to travel freely) and it would be good to have a "closure day" when you can't do nothing but read or think of immortality of the maybeetle and relax.

pondělí, září 03, 2012

while still living in the UK, I registered the international library (as a part of civic association Library Kebharec o.s) that would contain mainly books in English (acquired mainly from British charities, associations and citizens), though - over the months/years I hope to be able to get books in other languages ...

... and part of the building is being renovated to allow me to stay there for a while and familiarize myself with the local countryside and the community. I trust the time will be full of new and exciting challenges.

For more information follow this blog or visit www.kebharec.cz which I plan to change occasionally.